Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop
"You have plans for next Wednesday?"
Kate looked over at him from the murder board, the Expo marker against the side of her nose. Castle was sitting on the edge of her desk, legs crossed in front of him as he studied the board from behind her. "Huh?"
"Next Wednesday. Do you have plans?" he asked again, tilting his head to the side.
She blinked slowly. Her brain was not working a full capacity, not after almost fourteen hours getting absolutely nowhere in this case. "Plans next Wednesday?"
Castle got up, grabbing her coffee mug from her desk, and skirting around her toward the break room. "You need caffeine, stat, because that sentence really was not that confusing."
"Hey, wait!" she said, running behind him into the empty break room, reaching around his arm for the mug. "I don't want more coffee." Kate slapped a hand over the top of the cup before he could pour the liquid in. "I want to be able to get some sleep tonight. No more caffeine."
He leaned his lower back against the counter, shrugging as he crossed his arms. "Fine. So, next Wednesday, I get you and Al to myself."
Kate raised a brow, taking her mug back and cradling it against her chest protectively. "Awfully bold of you, Castle, to think that you can order us around. What's the occasion?" She started back toward her desk, shaking her head to try and wake up. Maybe another half hour of mulling over the board and she could call it a night.
But Castle's hand shot out, blocking her path out of the break room. He only smiled when Kate collided with his forearm, glaring up at him. "You'll say yes when you hear what day it is," he whispered into her ear. And he knew Kate could only blame so much of the shiver on exhaustion.
"What day is it? Other than Wednesday, of course," she returned, turning her head so her nose brushed his jaw.
The arm up against the doorframe fell, trailing down her arm, bare in the short-sleeved shirt. Just as he started to press his cheek against hers, Kate stepped away. But Castle followed until his mouth was against her ear. "My birthday."
This time, she ducked under his arm, grinning. "Oh really? Officially becoming an antique?"
"Oh, that's cruel. I'm not that old," he responded, nipping at her heels. "And how old is an antique, exactly?"
"Fifty." Kate placed her mug back on her desk, swinging her jacket on. The case would be there tomorrow after she got the few hours of sleep between the time she got home and the time she set her alarm for. She already knew her head would be filled with fluff from exhaustion.
He scowled. "I'm not turning fifty. Hey!" he called, jogging after her, catching her wrist. "I'm not turning fifty."
Kate grinned, hitting the button for the elevator. "Oh, I know. Forty-one, right?"
"How'd you know?"
She shrugged, stepping into the car and leaning against the wall. "Might have perused your official file. Caught riding a police horse naked? Really, Castle?"
She couldn't be sure, not in the low lighting of the elevator, but she might have seen a pink blush crawl onto his tanned skin. "You saw that."
"Mhm. Got a story for it?"
"If 'drunk foolishness' doesn't count, then no." He got out of the elevator first, trying to get away from the conversation, but Kate wasn't that easy to give up. She followed, hands in the pockets of her jacket, her little finger in the loop of the handcuff keychain.
"You do that often? Drunk foolishness in public?"
He faltered at the side of the car, looking down at the wheels rather than at Kate from over the roof. "Why do I have the feeling that we should be in the interrogation room?" She didn't answer, getting into the driver's seat and turning the key in the ignition. He joined her, buckling the seat belt as she backed out. "It used to be, Kate. Not anymore. Not since the night Meredith left."
"Listen, Rick. I didn't mean for it to sound like that…" she started, glancing over at him as she headed downtown to drop him off.
"It's fine." He reached over the console and gave her knee a squeeze. "Really. So, are you game for Wednesday?"
Kate let her right hand press onto the back of his. "Yeah. Al and I will be there with bells on."
She had parked against the curb, waving to Eduardo who stood just inside the doors of the building. Castle circled the car, leaning in through the open window.
"Wednesday at six. Casual dress," he said. Then he placed a kiss on her cheek, tracing her jaw with his hand before stepping toward the entrance of his place. "See you then."
Kate picked Al up at school alone, able to spot the girl as soon as she came out. Al had insisted on getting dressed herself that morning, shoving her mother out of the room.
She bounced over to the car, the bright pink tutu flouncing around her. "Hey, Mom!"
Oh goodness, she was a walking eye sore. The pink tutu was over striped leggings of alternated white and neon blue and purple while her shirt was a sedate grey. But when she had finally emerged from her bedroom, the grand smile on her face had convinced Kate to let the girl go out in public.
"Hey, kid," Kate said, sweeping Al up onto her hip, negotiating the tutu on the walk back to the car. "Ready to go shopping for Rick's present?"
"Where are we going?"
Kate snapped Al into the car seat, tweaking her on the nose. "A jewelry store. To get him a pair of diamond earrings. Duh."
"Mom!" Al whined, shaking her head at Kate's reflection in the rear view mirror. "That's for girls."
"All the more reason to get earrings for him."
They joked, Kate tossing back feminine ideas with Al batting them back at her with giggles. But Kate had thought about this present, the one that he had maintained that she not have to buy, since after dropping Castle off at his apartment. It was a big deal, one that she didn't want to screw up. She had an idea, already bought and sitting back in her bedroom, but she wanted to see what Al had in mind.
"Well, if you don't want to get him a matching tutu, what are we going to give him?" she asked.
Al deflated. "Don't know."
"Let's store-hop. See if something catches our eye, okay?"
She parked near a collection of small stores, hoping that one of them would give Al an idea for a gift. They always had her backup in the apartment if things didn't work out here.
He opened the door before Kate knocked and she suspected that he had been listening, ear pressed to the door, for their footsteps. He had a bunch of balloons in one hand, a tray of chips and dip in the other.
"And there are my women!"
Kate smirked, pushing past him and claiming the chips and dip as she went. "We're not your women, Rick."
"Yeah," added Al, but her miniature grin lasted a second before wrapping her arms around his legs. "Hi, Rick!"
He ran a hand over her hair, loose around her shoulders, as he shuffled into the apartment far enough to close the door. "Of course not. Silly of me to think that anyone could possibly own you two."
Kate had scooped up some of the French onion dip with a ruffled chip, crunching into it. "You've got that right." She held up the silver bag dangling from her hand. "Where do you want your present?"
"Told you no presents, Kate," he muttered, stealing a chip from the platter.
"I didn't listen."
"Me neither!" said Al, reaching up for her own chip. Castle handed one of the largest chips on the platter to her. "Can I have a balloon?"
He bent down, bringing the balloons down to her level so they had a sea of color between them. "Which color, little lady?" Castle saw Kate roll her eyes, setting the chips and dib on the coffee table along with the present, popping another chip into her mouth. He only winked at her as she walked into the kitchen.
Martha was sprinkling cheese onto a homemade pizza, doing a little dance to the music that was playing in her head because the beat certainly didn't match the Top 40 station that was filling the apartment. "Hello, Kate," she said, shaking the rest of the cheese from the bag in her hand over the sauce. "How's your week been?"
Kate snagged a piece of shredded cheese from the pizza from around Martha's arm. "Busy. Yours?"
"Oh, you know, rehearsals, cast dinners, costume fittings," she responded with a wave of her hand. "Same thing I've done for years. Would you get the pepperoni from the fridge?"
She searched the deli drawer until she found the zippered bag of pepperoni, opening it to take a handful of slices out. She started laying them out on the pizza, a hip propped against the counter. "But you like it."
"Kate, darling, I love it." Martha took a pepperoni from Kate's hand, ripping it in half to eat it. "It's the theatre. I was born for it. Unlike my son," she called, just loud enough for Castle to hear.
"I think Rick has a little bit of drama in him," Kate said, separating two slices to put them side-by-side on the dough. "He has to, to write the way he does."
"Mom!" Al ran over, buoyed by the teal balloon in her hand. "Look what I have!"
Kate smiled, looking down the white string to her daughter. "Beautiful. Just like you, kid." Even in that ridiculous outfit.
Castle sidled up against her side, his fingertips barely touching her as they tripped over her side. "Like all my girls."
She turned her face up to him, pushing up on her toes. "What did I tell you about women, Rick?"
"That… uh, that…"
Kate laughed as his head sort of fell down an inch or two toward her lips until she popped a piece of pepperoni onto his tongue. Then she ducked out of the way of his arm as he reached for her.
"Oh, spicy," he muttered until Al pushed between them. "Paying too much attention to Mom for your tastes, Rainbow Brite?"
"Who's Rainbow Brite?" she asked, curling her hand around Kate's knee and looking up at Castle. "I'm not Rainbow Brite." All authoritative, lips pressed together as she watched for an explanation.
He glanced at Kate, grinning, before telling the girl that Rainbow Brite was a cartoon character that dressed in all of the colors of the rainbow. "Just like you today."
Al executed a little twirl, her tutu flying out around her waist before settling again. "I dressed alone today."
"Very pretty," Castle said. "All the colors just like the balloons."
"Give Mom a balloon!" Al said, tugging on the tangled strings as if the idea was the best thing she had thought of all day. "She likes balloons!"
Kate moved out of the way, taking an oven mitt down from the counter and putting the pizza into the oven. The rush of hot air when she opened the door fluttered her hair and she tucked the strands behind her ear as she slid the stoneware onto the rack. "I like the light green one."
The balloon was in her face when she straightened, brushing her hand back against her shoulder. Her fingers brushed his when she took the string, wrapping it around her fingers. "Thanks, old timer."
"I should take it back for that," he murmured.
"You wouldn't deprive me of a balloon." Kate headed back toward the living room, flopping onto the couch with her feet up on the edge of the coffee table. She jerked on the string, watching the balloon bob in the air over her head.
He sat next to her, his leg pressed a little closer to her thigh than necessary. "Never."
Al tossed herself across their laps, giggling as she twisted so she was on her back. "What're we going to do?"
"Mmmm…" Castle mused, lightly tickling Al's stomach so the girl squirmed. "Eat cake. Then eat pizza. Then more cake. Then maybe we can watch movies and open presents." He leaned forward so his face was close to hers, tickling her neck. "Then more cake, of course."
"That's a lot of cake," Al managed between giggling gasps.
"We'll all have to eat our share. It's a burden that we must carry."
Al sat up, wiggling between the adults, holding tightly onto the string of her balloon. It bopped against Kate's, clinging from the static electricity. "Open presents first!"
He glanced at Kate who shrugged, twirling a strand of her daughter's hair between her fingers. "Presents first."
Theirs was the only one, so Kate wasn't sure why they were referring to the gift in the plural, but he still smiled as he leaned forward to snag the handle of the bag. Al had been adamant on wrapping it, swaddling the present in tissue paper after wrapping it messily with the heart wrapping paper Kate had found stuffed into a bag in her closet from years ago. So she sat back, watched as he pawed through the pink and blue tissue paper to find the slim rectangle.
When he slowly shook the box, listening for a tell-tale rattle, Al shoved his shoulder. "Open it!"
Castle pulled the paper off the box, crumpling it up into a ball and tossing it at Kate's head. "That's for calling me an old timer, Miss Beckett," he said before taking the lid off the black box. He had no idea what was inside. It didn't make a noise when he shook it and it wasn't heavy. "Oh, the mystery," he muttered, flipping the white tissue paper inside away from the center of the box.
It was a single piece of paper, thick cardstock, under the glass of a mahogany frame. Both Kate and Al were watching him as he read the words printed across the cream surface, saw as his smile widened.
"Mother, they beat your present!" he called, waving the framed paper in the air at Martha, watching from a chair at the dining table.
Martha shook her head. "Really? They beat me giving birth to you, Richard?"
"Yeah. They did. Sorry."
"Well, what is this marvelous present that has suddenly become better than giving you life?" she asked, getting up to lean against the back of the couch to look over Castle's shoulder.
He was too busy grinning at the people on the couch next to him to notice his mother. "A deed."
"You have a home."
Castle reached out, feather his fingers over the ends of Kate's hair before tickling Al's neck again. "And now I have a home on Mars."
He didn't let go of the deed to the little patch on the neighboring planet the entire night. They did eat cake first, followed by the pizza. Then, while the four of them sat on the couch with another slice of cake, they watched the movie that Castle claimed was his all-time favorite – Pinocchio. Kate had whispered into his ear that she thought it was because he lied all the time. He hadn't denied it.
Al was drifting in and out of sleep against her shoulder as Kate sang along to "When You Wish Upon a Star" with Jiminy Cricket, head bent to Al's ear. But Castle was wide awake, staring at her.
"You know, Al said you sang," he said in a low tone into her ear, "but she didn't clarify how beautiful your voice is."
Kate stopped, turning to look at him. "I… just…"
"No need to explain, Kate. It sounded pretty." Then his focus was back on the movie, just his hand resting on her thigh keeping contact between them.
While the end credits rolled, Kate got up, gathering the empty dishes despite Martha's protests, and placing them into the sink. Castle had a still-sleeping Al in his arms, her head lolling against his arm.
"Grab your coats. I'll carry her down to the car so you don't have to wake her up."
She did, trying to hide her smile that would have betrayed just how sweet she thought his movements were, and met him at the door. "You know I'll just have to wake her up when I get to my building."
"You could bring me home with you," he suggested with the slightest of eyebrow wiggles.
Kate wanted to shove him but her sleeping daughter yawned and snuggled deeper into his arms so she settled on glaring. "Not tonight."
They were quiet on the ride down to the first floor, waving goodnight to Eduardo, and moving out into the chill of the April night. She unlocked the back door of the Crown Vic, let Rick settle Al into the car seat, close the door with a gentle click.
She waited against the passenger side of the car, watching him with Al and not trying to hide the love she knew was in her eyes; he could never see the emotion in the dark. "Thanks, Rick."
He stepped down off the curb, keeping her against the door. "No, thank you, Kate. It was a really perfect night. And thank Al for me, too." Castle leaned down, placed a kiss against her lips. Soft and unassuming, with the slightest of pressure.
"Rick, what're we doing?" she asked, pulling her head back an inch, searching for his eyes in the night.
Castle didn't seek her lips again, moving back up onto the curb and snagging her wrist to pull her up with him. "Saying goodnight."
"That's how you say goodnight to all the people you know?" she asked, letting her fingers twine with his for a moment, smiling.
He shook his head. "Only you, Kate."
So she took her turn, turning her face up to kiss the corner of his mouth. "Goodnight, Rick. See you tomorrow?"
"Of course."
He watched her get into the front seat, turn the overhead light on to wave back at him, and start toward home. Eduardo looked up from his newspaper when Castle came back into the lobby.
"Have a good birthday, Mr. Castle?" the other man asked as Castle passed by.
"Got property on Mars, spent the night with a charming girl, and got a kiss from a beautiful woman. I'd say my wishes came true for the day, yes."
Eduardo nodded, flipping the page of People. "Glad to hear it, Mr. Castle."